Chapter 282: Mei, Give It Up — Caitlin Will Kill You
"Ugh, still over ten thousand points short for Tornadus."
Night. In a room at an inn in Michina Town, Mei soaked in the bath, scrolling through the Alpaca app. The moment she saw the points required to redeem Tornadus, her face fell into a pitiful pout.
Sure, this trip to Sinnoh had already earned her a huge haul of points, but it still wasn't enough.
"You, my friend, have some seriously high standards."
Touko sat just outside the bathroom, wiping down her Poké Balls while scrolling her own phone.
Honestly, she genuinely admired Mei — the girl could grind like nobody's business. Touko had technically joined the Alpaca company only a day before Mei, and yet her own point total was still under eighty thousand, while Mei was already nearly at the threshold for Tornadus. Mei just never stopped taking missions — the woman was a machine.
"What would you know? Hmph~ once I've got Tornadus, you can just watch me stomp all over your head to the top of the Unova league at the Kaigetsu Conference!"
Mei shot back, thoroughly pleased with herself.
"Heh~" was all Touko offered in response.
Privately, though, her stomach did drop a little. She and Mei were fairly evenly matched as trainers — battles came down to in-the-moment execution, adaptability, and strategy. But if Mei actually got her hands on the legendary Forces of Nature Tornadus, that might genuinely tip the scales.
Touko's brow furrowed slightly — though, well, if Mei was getting Tornadus, she'd just go get Thundurus herself. Sure, according to the legend, it was Landorus who was technically the "father" of both Tornadus and Thundurus — but never mind that Landorus currently sat at the top of the redemption list's point requirement, a staggering 150,000 points. And the app even flagged a warning on it: Landorus's strength was said to be extreme, well beyond top-Champion level, and the recommendation was not to attempt redemption unless you'd reached that tier yourself. Sure, there was technically a chance of winning it over through dialogue and emotional bonding instead — but that probability was, to put it mildly, pretty low.
So Thundurus made more sense. Or maybe Zapdos?
Touko studied images of both Thundurus and Zapdos — both Electric-types, both able to counter Mei's beloved Tornadus. Which one, though?
She hesitated a moment, then finally settled on Zapdos's picture. Looks-wise, she figured Thundurus and Zapdos were about equally striking, but Zapdos was one of Kanto's legendary bird trio — a piece of Kanto mythology, and that held its own appeal.
Decided! Once she had enough points, Zapdos it was. She'd pull it out at the Kaigetsu Conference and watch Mei's jaw hit the floor.
She'd be thrilled, surely?
At the thought, a small, satisfied smile crept across Touko's otherwise composed, innocent face. Heh heh heh~. All day, every day, going on about Mammon and Tornadus — really, not one-upping her would almost be disrespectful at this point.
Sorry, Unova Champion-to-be. I want one too.
"So what if she's older? Without a legendary Pokémon of my own in my back pocket, how am I supposed to go up against Mammon's girlfriend later?"
The bathroom door swung open, and Mei stepped out wrapped in a towel, long pale legs on full display, muttering to herself as she toweled off her hair.
"You still haven't given up? Mr. Mammon already turned you down," Touko blinked at her.
"As if! I won't stop until I've got Mammon, period!" Mei answered without a second's hesitation.
Touko tilted her head.
"Besides, getting turned down on the first confession is totally normal. He's got a girlfriend already — it'd be weirder if he'd said yes on the spot," Mei added, entirely unbothered.
"I genuinely don't know what goes on in your head sometimes." Touko couldn't help ribbing her friend.
Mei's own qualifications weren't lacking, honestly — her family wasn't rich, but comfortably middle-class, and once her own strength grew, money wouldn't be an issue either. Gorgeous on top of that. So why did she have to go chasing after someone else's boyfriend specifically?
Fine — Touko had to admit, someone as young, accomplished, powerful, easygoing, and good-looking as Mammon really was rare among their generation. But going out of her way to pursue someone else's boyfriend? Touko genuinely couldn't do that herself. Not that she was especially interested in romance to begin with — she cared far more about becoming Champion, becoming a world-class trainer.
"What would you know. Once I'm your boss's wife, hmph~" Mei dried off and slipped into her pajamas, thoroughly pleased with herself.
"Yeah, sure, keep dreaming." Touko couldn't help laughing, needling her best friend right back.
"You're that confident you can beat out Mr. Mammon's girlfriend? You don't think a girl Mammon actually fell for is going to be some pushover, do you?"
"And Mei — even if you somehow did beat her out, don't forget about Miss Caitlin, who's been at Mammon's side this whole time. The way she was looking at you this afternoon was not normal."
Touko warned her.
"That woman really is trouble." Mei's pretty brows knit together — she'd noticed it too. When she'd confessed to Mammon earlier, the look Caitlin had given her had been downright chilling.
Honestly, Mei wasn't especially worried about Mammon's actual girlfriend — no matter how impressive that girl might be, she couldn't possibly be more impressive than her. Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Caitlin, though, was different. A year older than her, with obvious natural talent to boot, and a genuinely powerful psychic to boot. Elegant and refined looks, an impressive pedigree, a Champion-tier trainer, and — worst of all — practically glued to Mammon's side day and night. Proximity was half the battle, and right now, Mei clearly couldn't beat this woman in a straight fight.
"Ugh! That golden-haired fox spirit, yo!"
Mei couldn't help cursing under her breath — the real problem was that this Caitlin woman was obviously scheming to get her hands on Mammon. She definitely had designs on him!
"..." Touko struggled not to laugh at that.
Not exactly your place to call anyone a "fox spirit," is it, when you're the one trying to steal someone else's boyfriend?
"Touko, if she comes after me, you have to have my back!"
Mei played her trump card — she clearly couldn't take on Caitlin herself, but no problem, she had her best friend, didn't she!
"Eh? Me?" Touko stared at her, aghast, pointing at herself.
"Have you lost your mind? What good would I even do?" Touko couldn't help laughing despite her irritation — this woman genuinely just wanted to drag her down with her.
"And Miss Caitlin's stronger than Charon was. You think the two of us together could take her?"
They'd needed all five of them together just to bring down Charon today, and Caitlin was unquestionably stronger than him — not by a small margin, either. A Psychic-type team was far harder to deal with than Charon's mostly Dark-type squad.
"Friendly reminder — Miss Caitlin's ace is a Mega Metagross, and she's also got a Vikavolt right around the same tier."
Touko shot Mei a sidelong glance.
"And on top of that, the Pokémon she usually keeps by her side is Lugia — Kanto legend's own 'Guardian of the Sea.'"
"So what? I'll have a legendary of my own too!" Mei shot back, stubborn to the end.
"Doesn't matter much even so. Right now, even the two of us combined wouldn't be enough for Miss Caitlin." "And it's worth mentioning — her own psychic power alone could pin the both of us to the ground without breaking a sweat. We couldn't even out-wrestle her in a hair-pulling match."
"Give it up, Mei. You can't win this one right now. Don't end up not just failing to land the guy, but getting flattened by the competition like roadkill along the way."
The more Touko talked, the more hopeless she found her friend's odds. Really, forget Mammon's actual girlfriend for a moment — even purely as competition, Caitlin was obviously the far likelier one to actually "win" Mammon in the end. What exactly was Mei planning to fight Caitlin with — her chest being bigger?
"Tch~" Mei was clearly annoyed, but couldn't find a good comeback.
"She's only a year older than me, that's all. I refuse to believe I'm any less than her." Mei remained unconvinced, certain she was in no way inferior to Caitlin — the current gap, in her mind, was purely a matter of the other woman having a head start in age.
"Fine, fine. So which item are you picking, then?" Touko rolled her eyes and let the subject drop. If Mei wasn't going to give up, what else could she do? As a friend, all she could do was back her up. And if Caitlin ever really did try to bully Mei, Touko certainly wouldn't just stand by — she'd step up in her defense, even if that meant the two of them getting "handled" by Caitlin together. She'd accept that outcome if it came to it.
"The Mega Stone, obviously. Not even a question." Mei answered without missing a beat.
"Do you even have anything on your team that can Mega Evolve?"
"Nope."
Mei said it with total confidence, prompting Touko to stare at her incredulously.
"So I'm planning to catch and raise something that can. Just not sure which Pokémon are the strongest post-Mega yet — though I've already got a plan for that." Mei blinked, grinning as she waved her phone at Touko.
"You're going to ask Mr. Mammon?" It clicked for Touko at once — she'd actually had the exact same idea herself. Mega Evolution could massively boost an individual Pokémon's power, and for two girls with their sights set on becoming top-tier trainers, there was no reason to pass it up. Sure, raising a new ace from scratch was a hassle, but it had to be done — if the opponent had access to Mega Evolution and you didn't, that was a built-in disadvantage from the start.
"Right — Mammon's obviously going to know which Mega Pokémon hit hardest. No harm asking him." Mei's reasoning got a nod out of Touko.
Meanwhile, elsewhere — Mammon was enjoying a lap pillow and massage courtesy of his "maid," Cynthia, thoroughly content. He'd just finished bathing — worth noting, Cynthia had scrubbed his back for him. The room lights glowed warm and soft as Cynthia's slender, elegant fingers pressed gently against his temples, her exquisitely beautiful face calm and composed, golden hair neatly pinned up behind her head.
Hm. That hairstyle was a little dangerous, honestly.
His phone suddenly buzzed. Mammon opened his eyes and picked it up.
"Mammon, Mammon, you there?"
(End of Chapter)
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